Remember: It's Christmas
by amostpeculiarlostgirl
Summary: Written for beeeinyourbonnet for Tumblr's Rumbelle Secret Santa 2013. In Storybrooke, Belle attempts to put Gold in the Christmas spirit.


The instant Gold stepped into the house, he was struck by the sweet smell of holly.

His brow furrowed, the pawnbroker closed the door behind him (nearly jumping a foot in the air when the wreath hanging on the door began to sing) and limped further into the house. Or attempted to, at least. It was almost impossible for him to maneuver around the various boxes that were scattered across the floor, filled to the brim with bright colored ornaments and electric lights. He counted one, two, three… _four_ miniature trees, and just as many wreaths.

None of this had been there that morning when he had left for work! Belle had certainly been busy. And speaking of Belle, where _was_ his love? "Darling?" he called, continuing his perilous trek through the house. "Where are you?"

His search brought him into the living room. Gold stared, dumbstruck, as he laid eyes on the biggest Christmas tree he had ever seen. How had Belle…? "Rumple?" The petite brunette poked her head out from behind the tree, where she had been hanging candy canes on the branches, and looked at him in surprise. However, as far as he could tell, it wasn't _pleasant_ surprise. "What are you doing home so early?" If Gold didn't know better, he would have thought she was upset. "I wasn't expecting you for another four hours!"

Wordlessly, he lifted the bag that was clutched in his hand: lunch he'd picked up from Granny's on the way. "I thought we could eat together, love," he said, although now, he wasn't so sure about that. "But if you're busy…" He trailed off, his eyes flitting around the room to see the _other_ decorations: stuffed reindeer, life size Santa Clause figurines, paper snowflakes dangling from the ceiling.

Belle's eyes lit up. "Oh, no! We can eat together!" she cried, hurrying out from behind the tree to join him at his side. "I'm sorry, Rumple. I was just disappointed. I was going to surprise you with all of this."

"Believe me, Belle," he assured her. "You've certainly done _that_. By the Gods, how did you get _that_ in here?" He gestured to the tree. "You must have had help."

"Oh! The dwarves helped me," she replied with a nod, kicking a few boxes out of the way in order to clear a path to the kitchen. "And Anton. They cut it down for me and brought it here. But it still didn't quite fit through the door, so Blue used a bit of magic to help us set it up." Gold's eyes widened, but he tried his best not to let his displeasure show. Belle _knew_ that he hated fairies. To think that _fairy magic_ was at work in his home right now…

"Don't give me that look, Rumplestiltskin," Belle scolded as they entered the kitchen, taking the sack of food from his hand and sitting it down on the table. "I know that you don't like Blue, but she was very kind to help me." Gold rolled his eyes. The day he believed that the Blue Fairy could be helpful would be the day Charming stopped being, well… charming.

"I've spent all day decorating," Belle continued, reaching into the bag to take out her cheeseburger and fries. "Did you know that they sell _singing_ wreaths? They're the most adorable things!"

"I do now," he remarked dryly. "It gave me quite a shock when I opened the door."

Belle frowned. "Oh, it didn't scare you, did it? I'm sorry, Rumple. I can move it if you'd like. Perhaps the basement door?"

He shook his head. "It's fine where it is, love." After all, no matter _where_ she put it, he would still hate it. Of course, he couldn't tell Belle that. She seemed so proud of herself; he didn't have the heart to disappoint her. "Are you almost done with the decorating?"

"Goodness, no!" she cried, obviously stunned by the question. "Rumple, I've so much more to do! I found a miniature train set in your attic this morning. I was thinking I could set it up around the tree. What do you think?"

What he was thinking was that there was _no way_ he wanted that train set _anywhere_ in his house other than in the box he'd stored it in. His cursed self may have liked it, but _he_ certainly didn't. But what he said aloud was, "Of course, darling. That sounds lovely." Belle beamed, cheerfully taking a bite out of her burger.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that," she told him. "Oh, and I nearly forgot! We need to get stockings, Rumple! I looked upstairs for ages and couldn't find any. Perhaps we could go shopping tonight? And it's been snowing today! Maybe the two of us could build a snowman together? Or… or have a snowball fight?"

That was literally the last thing on earth Gold wanted to do, but what could he say? She was looking at him so hopefully that he simply couldn't bear to deny her request. "A snowball fight sounds perfect, sweetheart."

"Oh, Rumple, thank you! I was afraid that it would take some effort to put you in the Christmas spirit, but it seems that I was worried about nothing."

_Right. She'd been worried about nothing_. Gold shot her what he prayed was a convincing smile as he took a bite of his sandwich. "Oh, I love Christmas, sweetheart," he lied skillfully. "Nobody in Storybrooke loves the holidays more than me."

Belle flashed him a hundred watt smile.

* * *

"Do you like this one or this one?"

Gold honestly couldn't care less about which stocking Belle bought for him, but she refused to take that as his answer. They'd been at the store for almost an _hour_ with no success. Belle had chosen her own stocking in a matter of minutes: pink, with glittering ornaments embroidered on it in purples and reds. But none of them, according to his love, were quite right for Gold.

"This is important, Rumple!" she'd insisted. "Stockings are traditions! We won't be buying a new one every year, so we _have_ to be sure that it suits you!"

He was leaning idly against one of the shelves, examining the two that she was holding up: one was red with golden bows stitched in, and the other was golden with a white snowman. "I don't know which one I like best," Belle mused thoughtfully to herself. "There's gold on both. Which one do you like, Rumple?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter to-."

"Rumplestiltskin, it certainly _does_ matter!"

"Fine… That one." He pointed to the snowman stocking. Belle grinned, sitting it with hers in the shopping cart.

"That was my favorite, too," she remarked. "Is there anything else we need? More tinsel, perhaps?"

"No!" cried Gold, a bit louder than he'd intended. "We've plenty of tinsel, love. I assure you." She'd _covered_ the tree in it.

Belle frowned. "Oh. Alright. What about-?"

"Belle, we don't need _anything_ _else_," Gold insisted. "The house is already as festive as it could be. Let's just get the stockings and go home. I can prepare us some hot chocolate, perhaps?"

"We can't go home yet," Belle reminded him. Gold stared at her blankly. He'd already completely forgotten the promise he'd made earlier.

"Why not?"

"You said we could have a snowball fight, remember?" He internally groaned. "I thought we could stop by the park? And then before we head home, we could get something hot to drink at Granny's? Emma tells me that hot chocolate tastes _wonderful_ with cinnamon."

* * *

"Got you!" Belle giggled behind her gloved hand as the snowball she had thrown struck Gold in the back of the head. "Come on, Rumple, you aren't even _trying_!"

"You're forgetting, darling," he said dryly. "It's easier for _you_ to avoid them." He waved his cane in the air, as if reminding her that it existed.

"I'll go easy on you," she said apologetically. "But you've not thrown a single snowball at _me_."

To appease her, Gold bent down and collected a handful of snow, packing it into a ball and tossing it at her half-heartedly. Belle did _not_ look amused.

"If you didn't want to have a snowball fight, you could have just said so," she said quietly, her voice cracking. "Let's go home, Rumple." She dropped the snowball she was holding and headed for the car, her lower lip trembling dangerously.

The car ride home was the single most awkward car ride Gold had ever experienced. His love refused to speak to him, and any attempt he made to talk to _her_ was combated by Belle turning up the radio to drown him out.

Upon arriving home, Gold headed to the kitchen to make them something to drink. Maybe the hot cocoa with cinnamon that she'd mentioned earlier would be enough to cheer her up.

"Belle, I've made you-." Gold stepped into the living room with their drinks to find Belle taking down the decorations that she'd spent the entire day putting up. "Love, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked, unplugging the lights on the Christmas tree. "I'm putting all of this away."

"But… why? Sweetheart, you were so excited about-."

"You don't like it," she cut him off, turning to look at him. "You hated it from the start, didn't you? I was just too stupid to see it."

He gazed down at his feet guiltily, unable to meet her eyes. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" she continued, hurt. "You told me that you loved Christmas. You said that nobody in Storybrooke loved it more than you."

"You were so excited!" he explained, placing the steaming cups of cocoa on the coffee table and moving to her side. "I didn't have the heart to disappoint you." Belle leaned against him, sighing softly. "Put the decorations back, love," he urged. "I'll _try_, I promise. Please… You know that your happiness is what's most important to me."

"And _yours_ is important to me!" she cried. "Rumple, you have to mean it. You really _will_ try to enjoy Christmas?"

He nodded curtly. He would try, but he couldn't be certain that he'd succeed. Belle seemed to accept his promise, a smile lighting upon her face once more. "Well, then. Would you care to help me put all of this back?"

* * *

"How about _now_?" Gold had been at it for nearly an hour and apparently, he had yet to properly set up the miniature train set. Of all things, why had she taken _this_ apart first?

"Hmm… It still looks a bit odd."

"Odd? What's odd about it?" he demanded. "It looks _exactly _as it does on the box!" That wasn't entirely true. The cars on the train were a little out of order.

"Rumple, that red one has to go on the end. See?" She pointed to the picture. Hmm. It would seem that she was right. He disconnected the cars, removing the caboose from the center of the train and moving it to the end.

"How about now?"

Belle looked at it thoughtfully. "It will have to do, I suppose." Gold rolled his eyes. "Rumple, could we go outside in the morning and hang up Christmas lights?"

Oh, _that_ was the last straw. There was no way in _hell_ he was climbing up a ladder in the middle of winter to hang _lights_ on his house. "Darling, I believe you're forgetting something?" He gestured to his leg.

"Oh, you don't have to, Rumple. I can do it."

"I don't want lights on my house," he said flatly. Belle looked disappointed, but she supposed that it was his decision. If he didn't want to, she wouldn't press it.

"Then could we try building a snowman?"

Again, he _really_ didn't want to, but he couldn't turn down all of her ideas. And after the failed snowball fight, Gold figured that he owed it to Belle to do this with her. "Of course we can."

* * *

"It's not big enough, Rumple," chuckled Belle, as Gold attempted to roll the base of their snowman. "Let me help." She pressed her hands, kept warm inside pink mittens, against the snowball, pushing it around the yard. "See? Now it's large enough. Try to make the middle part."

Alright, if he was being honest with himself, this _was_ kind of fun. And even if it wasn't, it was worth it just to see the smile on Belle's face when, at long last, they finished building their snowman. "We have to give him a face!" she said. "And a hat and scarf." She hurried into the house and returned a moment later with a carrot for his nose, and raisins to make his eyes, mouth, and buttons.

Taking off her own hat and scarf, she placed them on the snowman and _beamed_ at Gold. "He's perfect," she said with an appreciative nod.

"Darling, you'll catch a cold," he laughed, lightly kissing her forehead. Belle waved him off.

"I'll be _fine_, Rumple," she assured him. "Well… you should be off to the shop now, shouldn't you?"

If Belle was trying to hide the way her face fell and her shoulders slumped, then she wasn't doing a very job of it. Gold, however, didn't make any note of it. "I should," he replied. "But I can bring home lunch if you'd like?" All at once, her previous demeanor returned.

"That sounds wonderful!" she exclaimed, kissing his cheek. "Have a good day, Rumple. And try not to get too upset with the Charming's. Remember: it's Christmas."

* * *

That became Belle's mantra for the remainder of the week.

_We have to roast chestnuts over the fire, Rumple. Remember: it's Christmas._

_We have to go caroling, Rumple. Remember: it's Christmas._

_We have to buy our friends presents, Rumple. Remember: it's Christmas._

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, Gold had taken part in nearly every Christmas tradition that had _ever_ been done. And, if truth be told, he'd had a good time doing it. But he had one problem: he still hadn't bought a gift for Belle.

"Do you _have_ to go _today_?" Belle asked, frowning. Of course he did! What if someone stopped by the shop to buy a last minute gift?

"I'll be home early," he promised. "Have a good day, darling."

And that was when it struck him: Belle _missed_ him when he went to work. He knew from experience that it could get a little dull, being alone in that house all day. And while she had friends, he'd noticed that she didn't spend much time with them. She needed somebody there with her, to keep her company until he came home from work.

And all at once, Gold knew _exactly_ what to get her for Christmas.

"Sleep well, darling," he murmured to her that night when the two of them went to bed. "Remember: tomorrow is Christmas." She chuckled, curling up at his side and resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're staying home tomorrow, aren't you?" she asked him for the millionth time. "No work? _Promise me_, Rumple."

"No work," he replied firmly. "I'll be with you here, all day long." Although he couldn't see her through the darkness, he could _feel_ her smile. "Belle… Do you get very lonely when I'm gone?"

There was a pause.

"Yes," she answered after a moment. "I miss you. I go to the library sometimes, but… I wish you were there."

Oh, he'd certainly gotten her the perfect gift.

* * *

In the morning, Belle was awakened by a tickling sensation on her nose. "Rumple?" she asked, giggling as she blinked her eyes open. "What are you-?"

She broke off, stunned, as she came face to face with a tiny orange kitten. Gold was standing beside the bed, fully dressed and looking extremely proud of himself. "You weren't expecting this, were you?"

"No, I… I- Rumple, is he for me?" She sat up, lifting the kitten into her arms. "He- he's adorable!"

"Merry Christmas, sweetheart," he said gently, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "To keep you company while I'm away."

Belle giggled, scratching the kitten behind the ears and listening to his soft purrs. "I'm naming him Rumple," she said decisively.

"Now, won't that get a little confusing?" he asked with a laugh. But Belle's mind was made up, and thus, Rumple became the kitten's name.

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly. Belle gave Gold _his_ present: a scarf that she'd made herself from his golden thread. They had a breakfast of pancakes and sausage, watched a few Christmas specials on television, and had a snowball fight outside.

Belle introduced Rumple to his new home, allowing the kitten to explore the manor. At one point, he hid himself inside the Christmas tree, and it took Belle and Gold a good twenty minutes to get him to come out. "He likes the decorations," Belle smiled, as the two of them sat together for dinner.

Gold had prepared a ham, and Belle had made the side dishes: potatoes with gravy, broccoli with cheese, and homemade noodles. "He likes them a little too well, it would seem," chuckled Gold, gesturing with his fork toward the Santa figurine Belle had sat in the doorway. Rumple had climbed on top of it and was playing with the figurine's beard.

When they finished eating, Belle went to retrieve the kitten, cradling him against her chest. "Bedtime, Rumple?" she asked Gold, glancing over her shoulder.

"Not yet," he replied, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I've one more surprise for you."

"I don't understand," Belle said, hugging herself in an attempt to keep warm. "Why are we outside?"

"You'll see in a moment," he replied. "Your friend Leroy helped me with something early this morning while you were asleep."

Belle raised an eyebrow. "Leroy helped you? With wh-?"

The entire manor was suddenly lit up with electric lights. It was _by far_ the brightest house on the street.

"But- but I- I thought you didn't-."

He pressed a finger to her lips, effectively silencing her. "Merry Christmas, Belle."


End file.
